Wednesday, September 18th, 2024 from 12:00-1:30pm PDT

Explore the pioneering work of how the Urban Indigenous Collective is reshaping mental healthcare within New York City’s urban Indigenous community amidst the burgeoning psychedelic renaissance. Gain insights into the multitude of Indigenous identities across the United States, the distinct challenges faced by urban-based pan-Indigenous communities in accessing healthcare, and discover UIC’s innovative approach to community-based participatory research. Join our enriching dialogue featuring speakers Sutton King and Ariel Richer, Co-Founders and Co-Directors of the Urban Indigenous Collective, with Joseph Mays, Program Director of Chacruna’s Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative (IRI), as moderator.

Dr. Ariel Richer (she/her) is Afro-Indigenous and white, descendant of Caribs (Venezuela/ Trinidad & Tobago). She is an Assistant Professor at the University of Utah, College of Social Work. Dr. Richer earned both a Master’s and a PhD at Columbia University School of Social Work, and has been a Licensed Master Social Worker for 9 years. She is an interventionist who engages in community-driven research to co-create culturally- tailored interventions and services. Specifically, she addresses the substance use, intimate partner violence, and HIV and STI risk (SAVA) syndemic. Dr. Richer works with Black, Indigenous, and queer communities who experience structural stigma related their systemically marginalized identities. Finally, Dr. Richer is the Co-Founder/Research Director of Urban Indigenous Collective, a community-based public health non-profit that seeks to increase access to culturally-relevant services among urban-living Indigenous people living in Lenapehoking (New York City). Currently, she is leading a study with UIC to increase access to plant medicines and psychedelics in therapy among Indigenous communities.

Sutton King, MPH, Afro-Indigenous, descendent of the Menominee and Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, is a graduate of NYU School of Global Public Health. As an internationally recognized Indigenous rights activist and social entrepreneur she is dedicated to developing and scaling innovative solutions to improve Indigenous health equity across sectors. For the last decade she has implemented culturally appropriate and equitable methodologies within healthcare, technology and philanthropy. Her commitment to scaling innovative solutions that support mental health, women’s rights, drug policy reform, bioculture conservation and access and benefit sharing for Indigenous peoples is achieving change and gaining national recognition along the way.

Joseph Mays received his MSc in Ethnobotany from the University of Kent researching responses to globalization by the Yanesha of central Peru. Graduating with biology and anthropology degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University, he published a medicinal plant guide for the Jama-Coaque Ecological Reserve in the Ecuadorian cloud forest. Joseph was Program Director of Chacruna’s Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative (IRI) for 5 years and currently is IRI’s Advisor. He also holds a certificate in Psychedelic Assisted Therapies from Naropa University, and his conservation work explores how cultural-conditioning influences approaches to biocultural sustainability. Currently he is enrolled in a PhD program in the History Department at the University of Saskatchewan studying under Dr. Erika Dick, focusing on Indigenous movements towards community autonomy in the Americas.

Co-Creating culturally tailored healthcare with the Urban Indigenous Collective